DMK President M K Stalin has “rebooted” his election campaign with an offer that the voters may find irresistible to refuse. The coming days will see the DMK chief visiting all the 234 Assembly constituencies in the State as part of his campaign for the upcoming elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly and would collect petitions from the voters.
“The first thing I will do after my swearing in as Chief Minister would be to attend to these petitions and resolve the woes in the first 100 days of my tenure,” said Stalin about the revised strategy. The DMK president would begin his campaign “Ungal Thogidhiyil Stalin” (Stalin in your constituency) on Friday. Sources close to the DMK leader said the new strategy was chalked out by Prasanth Kishore, the specialist in election campaigns, who has been hired by Stalin to ensure DMK’s victory.
The first hint about the change in campaign style was mooted by Stalin himself in a recent meeting with the district secretaries of the party which he had convened to discuss the possibilities arising out of the rebellion by his elder brother M K Alagiri. The first phase of Stalin’s campaign titled Let Us Join Together evoked only a lukewarm response from the electorate.
Alagiri who was expelled from the DMK in 2013 by Stalin and his associates had recently declared that the former’s aides would not allow the party to win in the upcoming election. “Stalin has been portrayed as the future chief minister and he would remain in that position throughout his life,” Alagiri, who was the former party organizing secretary for South Tamil Nadu, had declared early this month. The Madurai strong man who is addressed as Anjaneyan by the DMK cadre, is turning 71 on January 30 and is expected to declare his future course of action on that day.
Meanwhile, the three day whirlwind tour by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi MP came as a shot in the arm for the party as well as the electorate in south west Tamil Nadu, according to CD Meyyappan, AICC member who accompanied the Nehru-Gandhi scion throughout the tour.
“The Congress leader toured the three districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode to take stock of the mood of the electorate, He interacted with entrepreneurs representing the MSME sector, farmers, women and youth and the response was really encouraging,” Meyyappan told The Pioneer after seeing his leader off from Madurai airport on Monday.
He said Rahul Gandhi had unscheduled meetings with many villagers in these districts as well as in parts of South Dindigul district. “He gave a patient hearing to all the villagers and promised them to return soon,” said Meyyappan. The Tamil Nadu Congress leader also said it was a morale boosting tour.
Vijayadharini MLA, who played a key role in mobilizing women for the meetings said the notion that south west Tamil Nadu was a stronghold of the AIADMK has been broken by Rahul Gandhi. “I could see enthused faced everywhere and the turn out was beyond our expectation,” said Vijayadharini, two time MLA vrom Vilavancode.
